Puka Nacua Headlines Perfect DraftKings NFL DFS Showdown Lineup for Rams vs. 49ers on Thursday Night Football
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The New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks kicked off the 2026 NFL season on Wednesday, ending in a narrow Seattle victory. To follow that up, the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams will square off in an NFC West bout in Australia on Thursday Night Football.
While finding a comfy place to sit and watch tonight’s game, you can whip up a showdown lineup on DraftKings.
Showdown is a single-game DFS contest on DraftKings, where you’ll have a $50,000 salary to select a captain and five flex players to fill out your roster. The captain’s salary and points are multiplied by 1.5x, while the flex players’ salaries and points are normal.
Factoring all of that, which players build out a perfect showdown lineup between the Rams and 49ers?
All stats used in this article are from PFF or Sumer Sports unless stated otherwise. DraftKings uses full-PPR scoring in their DFS contests, so keep that in mind when making lineups.
Puka Nacua, WR, Los Angeles Rams ($16,800 Salary)
Puka Nacua produced the most DraftKings FPPG (25.1) in 2025 among the players suiting up on Thursday night. Nacua has dealt with a psoas injury in the preseason, but he’s been cleared to play.
Among WRs with 50 targets last season, Nacua tallied the most receptions (129), second-most receiving yards (1,715), and most yards per route run (3.71).
Christian McCaffrey, RB, San Francisco 49ers ($10,600 Salary)
Christian McCaffrey is coming off a 2025 campaign in which he garnered a career-high 413 touches, resulting in 24.8 DraftKings points per game.
No RB had a higher target share (23.5%) or more red-zone carries (75) than CMC a season ago, so he still holds an extremely valuable role in this San Fran offense.
Matthew Stafford, QB, Los Angeles Rams ($9,800 Salary)
Stacking Nacua in the captain spot with Matthew Stafford carries immense upside in Thursday’s matchup.
The reigning NFL MVP achieved the 300-yard passing bonus on DraftKings four times last year (including once against the 49ers), and he notched the most passing touchdowns (46) and seventh-most yards per attempt (7.9) among QBs with 250-plus plays.
Eddy Pineiro, K, San Francisco 49ers ($4,800 Salary)
After spending a ton of salary on Nacua, McCaffrey, and Stafford, it’s not very tough to find value in Thursday’s showdown contest.
Eddy Pineiro averaged a solid 9.6 DraftKings points per game in 2025, converting 28 of his 29 field-goal attempts in 14 games as the 49ers’ kicker.
Blake Corum, RB, Los Angeles Rams ($4,600 Salary)
Kyren Williams ($8,600) gashed San Francisco’s defense for 22-plus DraftKings points in both meetings in 2025, but Blake Corum could close the gap between them in 2026.
En route to setting career-best marks in rushing yards (746) and rushing touchdowns (6) last season, Corum registered the most EPA/rush (0.09) and third-highest rushing success rate (49.7%) among RBs with 100-plus attempts. I want to be aggressive in rostering Corum in case his role does change.
Terrance Ferguson, TE, Los Angeles Rams ($3,200 Salary)
Another player I want to aggressively roster in DFS before a potential role change is Terrance Ferguson.
Even though Ferguson has “TE” listed as his position, the second-year pass catcher could be the WR3 in an electric Rams aerial attack after turning 3 of his 11 receptions into touchdowns as a rookie in 2025.
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Skyler Carlin is an experienced sports writer and editor with nearly a decade of experience covering the NFL, NBA, MLB, college football, college basketball, and soccer for FanDuel Research and USA Today. Outside of writing, he enjoys cooking, watching movies, and playing video games.
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